A controversy erupted over the appointment of Ranjit Sinha as the new CBI Director with BJP demanding that the Prime Minister should keep it on hold, citing that the Select Committee on Lokpal suggested that selection be made by a collegium method .

Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, Leaders of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, have written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking reversal of the decision to appoint Sinha as the next CBI Director.

In his reply to Jaitley, the prime minister said the present CBI chief, A.P. Singh, is due to retire Nov 30. And even the government makes every effort to push enactment of the Lokpal Bill, the premier investigating agency cannot be left without an administrative head in the meantime

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declined the BJP's demand to keep in abeyance the appointment of Ranjit Sinha as new CBI director and also termed as "wholly unwarranted and devoid of any merit" its "insinuation" that his appointment had been rushed before the Lokpal Bill could be passed.

"The insinuation that the appointment was made to preempt the procedure recommended by the select committee is wholly unwarranted and devoid of any merit. I also refute the suggestion that the appointments to this post in the past by the UPA government were motivated by collateral considerations," the prime minister said in his reply, according to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy defended the government's move and said the selection of CBI chief had been done in a fair manner following due process.

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner shortlisted three out of 61 aspirants after due consideration, before finally approving the name of Sinha.BJP leaders writes to PM protesting naming of new CBI chief

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the BJP leaders said that appointment of the new CBI Director should not have been done when the Rajya Sabha Select Committee on the Lokpal Bill had recommended that such appointments should be done through collegium.

The select committee on Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 tabled its report in the Rajya Sabha Friday. Sinha was Thursday appointed as the next director of the CBI for a two year term.

Sinha, a 1974 batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre and current Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Force, has been named by the government as the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Sinha will take charge from Amar Pratap ingh, who retires on November 30.

Activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan questioned the "secretive manner" in which the government chose Ranjit Sinha as the new CBI director and claimed he was a "tainted person".

They said the selection of Sinha only shows that "government even today in all circumstances wants to use the CBI for its political benefits". Kejriwal and Bhushan alleged that Sinha's moral integrity had been questioned and that he was reprimanded by the Patna High Court for favouring the then Chief Minister Lalu Prasad.

"The government wants to appoint a tainted person whom it can subsequently arm-twist for its own benefits," Kejriwal alleged.

Bhushan claimed the government "secretly" and "out of its own will" appointed the new CBI chief, whose "moral integrity had been questioned" earlie